First the issue is perception. Musk has damaged Tesla because of his strong association with Trump and his 2025 team.

I really do love my Tesla but new ones come with serious social anxiety.

Second, Musk is offering FSD as the next big thing. BYD makes it standard on even low priced cars. Again perception issues. If BYD is the leading EV vendor and believes FSD should be discounted, FSD is not going to save Tesla. More over deepseek has shown a path to cheaper development of FSD. Yes not proven yet but not easily discounted.

Tesla has a near zero record in advancing battery technology. CATL and BYD both supply batteries to Tesla. Higher energy density is critical to driving EV sales. Yes Tesla can just purchase the next best in class battery but so can any EV vendor.

So DOGE future benefits are irrelevant to current Musk Tesla perception and Musk has no published plan for critical EV battery technology.

So Musk should step down from Tesla and give Tesla a shot at being great again.